360 Degrees of Apple

Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Apple Stays Fresh

11/15/2006 7:56 PM ET

Microsoft just took an aim at Apple with its Zune music player, but Apple is still the leader of portable music, Jim Cramer told viewers of his "Mad Money" TV show Wednesday.

First of all, compared to Apple's iPod product, the Zune is too big and bulky, he said. And second, it comes in three colors, one of which is brown, a hue that is not likely to be popular among the younger set.

Reason No. 3 why Cramer believes the Zune is likely to fail is that its music store is not good compared to iTunes, which is easy to use.

In addition, although he likes Microsoft, Cramer said the company has been unable to reach the right demographic, which is the younger generation, whereas this demographic loves Apple.

He said he finds the Zune, which doesn't even have an original design, "pathetic." Moreover, the rankings for the product, which just debuted Tuesday, are much lower than expected.

However, none of this is to say Cramer doesn't like Microsoft, because he does. He said he believes the company has done well and people should like it because of its new Vista operating system, not because of the Zune. However, it is no competition for the iPod, Cramer said. The iPod is just one reason among many to own Apple.

"Its laptops are very popular with the college generation," he said. "When you buy a Mac, you are buying a beautiful, easy-to-use machine."

Apple is "the most differentiated brand and only has a tiny bit of market share," Cramer continued, adding that he has never seen an empty Apple store.

Also, when Microsoft launches Vista, people might get frustrated with having to update their systems and turn to Apple.

In the end, "Apple is an iPod story," which is never-ending, he said. Plus, it has "a ton of financial flexibility," which could translate to buybacks and dividends in the future.

"It could go to $100 by the end of the year," Cramer said. "Apple is invincible thus far." Apple closed at $84.05 on Wednesday.

At time of publication, Cramer had no positions in the stocks mentioned.

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Big-Cap Tech Must Remain in Charge

By Richard Suttmeier

This is an excerpt from a tech-focused column; the piece was originally published in its entirety on RealMoney on Nov. 14 at 2:58 p.m. ET.

Since midsummer, tech stocks have enjoyed a nice uphill run.

Both the Nasdaq 100 and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor index, or SOX, have provided necessary leadership in this bull market. But could the big-tech climb be coming to an end? Take a look at some of the group's largest components.

Among tech stocks with market capitalizations above $50 billion, gadget and consumer-related stocks remain strong, but most are overvalued and overbought. Some examples of this include Apple, Cisco (CSCO Quote), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ Quote), IBM (IBM Quote) and Microsoft (MSFT Quote). Dell (DELL Quote) has rebounded, too, but it could just be rising in sympathy with the big-cap tide.

Apple is trying to recover fully from its decline, as it slipped from $86.40 in January to a low of $50.16 in July. Tuesday morning's high is the closest it has gotten to $85. That's just above my quarterly pivot at $84.29, where investors should consider taking some profits.

At time of publication, Suttmeier had no positions in any of the stocks mentioned.